So why the hell do I use Linux?

in 100 words or less, why you are such a supporter of your chosen operating system and what features you love about it

The BBC is asking people to justify their choice of OS, and to be honest it's a hard thing to do in an objective and factual way. However let's see how I do...
Linux provides my with the most flexible and compatible platform for the type of technical software work I do. It's cheap in license fees, secure and highly functional. The are also a complete set of business and office applications to use as well.
The downside the is the extra time it takes to get hardware and gadgets to work. :-( and everyone else's' assumption that I can run Windows software or that MS Office is my native file format.